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This paper investigates whether and to what extent operating in inner areas affects the profitability of innovative Italian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over 2012–2018.

Guided by the National Strategy for Inner Areas and the “Investment Compact,” this study distinguishes between inner and core innovative SMEs. It employs various econometric models to estimate a regression for the return on assets of SMEs, differentiating between firms operating in inner and non-inner areas of northwest, northeast, centre and south Italy.

Findings reveal that innovative SMEs in inner areas generally exhibit lower profitability compared to those in non-inner municipalities. However, huge heterogeneity in results is observed across the country. Specifically, innovative SMEs in the inner areas of the south register lower profitability than those operating in non-inner zones. Conversely, innovative SMEs located in the inner municipalities of northwest and northeast Italy show higher profitability than their peers in non-inner areas. The results imply that targeted policies for inner areas are crucial. However, due to the diversity of local impacts, a differentiated approach, depending on the geographic context, is necessary.

The study aims to explore the relationship between inner areas and the performance of innovative SMEs in Italy. More precisely, it examines the effect of operating in a municipality located within an inner area on the profitability of innovative SMEs. This issue has been overlooked in existing literature. Importantly, we aim to determine whether there is a heterogeneous impact based on geographical localisation, specifically in the Northwest, the Northeast, the Centre and the South of the country. Therefore, this paper contributes to the literature by investigating the factors influencing the performance of innovative SMEs and suggesting new policy recommendations for developing inner areas in Italy.

Investigating the drivers that contribute to the success of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is crucial for ensuring the overall growth and sustainability of a country. The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of gender diversity on the Board of Directors of innovative SMEs to understand whether the presence of women on boards can improve the performance of such organizations devoted to introducing technological advancements in the product market.

The study adopts a quantitative approach, using a sample of 2,264 Italian innovative SMEs. These companies were selected from non-financial sectors and collected from Analisi informatizzata delle Aziende Italiane (AIDA), a database provided by Bureau van Dijk. An unbalanced panel data involving a period from 2016 to 2021 was used with a total of 12,173 observations.

Our findings suggest that female representation has a negative effect on a company's financial performance. Moreover, the moderation effect of sector growth opportunities confirms this negative influence since in sectors characterized by high growth opportunities, the presence of women on boards was found to have a negative outcome.

The main contribution of the work lies in offering a comprehensive and thorough examination of the business category of innovative SMEs. Specifically, it extends previous research through a focus on board gender diversity of innovative SMEs by examining the impact of the presence of women in their boardrooms on firm performance outcomes. Furthermore, it provides an analysis of this effect, considering both high-growth and low-growth sectors.

Cyberattacks are becoming increasingly widespread, and cybersecurity is therefore increasingly important. Although the technological aspects of cybersecurity are its best-known characteristics, the cybersecurity phenomenon goes beyond the detection of technological impacts, and encompasses all the dimensions of an organization. This study thus focusses on an additional set of organizational elements. The key elements of cybersecurity organizational readiness depicted here are cybersecurity awareness, cybersecurity culture and cybersecurity organizational resilience (OR). This study aims to qualitatively assess small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) overall level of organizational cybersecurity readiness.

This study focused on conducting a cybersecurity organizational readiness assessment using a sample of 53 Italian SMEs from the information and communication technology sector. Informed mixed method research, this study was conducted consistent with the principles of the explanatory sequential mixed method design, and adopting a quanti-qualitative methodology. The quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire. Qualitative data were subsequently collected through semi-structured interviews.

Although many elements of the technical aspects of cybersecurity OR have yielded very encouraging results, there are still some areas that require improvement. These include those facets that constitute the foundation of cybersecurity awareness, and, thus, a cybersecurity culture. This result highlights that the areas in need of improvement are exactly those that are most important in fighting against cyber threats via organizational cybersecurity readiness.

Although the importance of SMEs is obvious, evidence of such organizations’ attitudes to cybersecurity are still limited. This research is an attempt to depict the organizational issue related to cybersecurity, i.e. overall cybersecurity organizational readiness.

This paper aims to investigate if, under which conditions, and with which consequences, nonfamily members have the perception of being discriminated against as a consequence of nepotism and adverse selection practices. This research also aims to investigate whether the carried-out role influences the perception of being discriminated against among nonfamily member employees.

A quantitative approach was carried out by adopting a structural equation model (SEM) analysis. The survey investigated a sample of Italian family SMEs (participating companies N = 186, total questionnaires collected N = 838).

Drawing on the multiple identities theory, findings show that role salience (RS) effectively contributes to reducing the unwanted effects of perceived discrimination (PD) among nonfamily member employees. In doing so, this study deepens the knowledge of nonfamily member employment conditions and their consequences on strategic outcomes such as organizational commitment (OC), organizational justice (OJ) and intention to quit (ITQ).

By adopting a self-categorization approach, this study also advances current theoretical literature, as this methodological lens could help scholars further understand diversity in family business.

This study suggests it would be advisable to implement human resource management practices based on job rotation to promote cohesion and reduce perceived distances.

SMEs are the most widespread type of firm in the world; as a consequence, avoiding PD among nonfamily member employees has general ethical relevance.

This study expands current literature by showing that RS plays an important role in determining levels of PD. This study also advances current literature by focusing on the impact of multiple identities on fairness and commitment at individual and group levels of analysis of family businesses.

Food and beverage (F&B) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must diversify their markets and obtain predictable sources of revenues to withstand difficult and volatile periods such as the post-pandemic geopolitical scenario, recently burdened by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. On the other hand, another strand of the literature suggests that public procurement could be considered a great source of income, enabling solid contracts, revenues and cash-flow stability. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the role of public procurement, the adoption of e-commerce platforms and their interactions in affecting the exporting performances of SMEs operating in the F&B sector.

The study retrieves data from 2,186 Italian F&B manufacturing SMEs relying on Margò by Cribis database. Therefore, it conducts a structured equational model (SEM) to test the developed hypotheses empirically.

The findings reveal that digital selling platforms positively affect exports, whereas public procurement negatively affects F&B SMEs exports. Nonetheless, findings underline that the interaction between public procurement and the adoption of digital selling platforms dampens public procurement's negative effects on exports.

This study brings an original contribution to the F&B literature by conducting empirical research on an extensive sample of firms from one of the most influential countries in the F&B vertical, Italy, with officially registered data. More importantly, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this study pioneers the investigation of the relationship between public procurement and e-commerce platforms in affecting F&B SMEs' export performances.

The aim of this study is to understand how digital platforms and context-specific characteristics of China – such as swift guanxi – affect opportunities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) entering this market.

This study adopts a qualitative approach based on a multiple-case study of Italian SMEs in the wine industry that have activated international activities in China. Primary data consist of 32 interviews with SMEs’ managers, local consumers and other stakeholders involved in firm internationalization.

The findings of this study highlight that in SMEs’ internationalization, the process of knowledge/learning on digital platforms takes place in a bidirectional way thanks to the interactions among multiple stakeholders, which activate consumer education and knowledge sharing.

While previous research has emphasized firms' knowledge acquisition in the internationalization process, this study incorporates both the consumer perspective and the firm perspective, along with considering interactions with various stakeholders.

This paper aims to identify and empirically analyze useful and applicable metrics for measuring and managing the sustainability performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

To achieve the objective of the paper, potential metrics were adopted from previous research related to industrial sustainability and an empirical analysis was carried to assess the applicability of the metrics by collecting empirical data from Italian footwear SMEs using a structured questionnaire. The SMEs were selected using a convenience sampling method.

The results of the within-case analysis and the cross-case analysis indicate that the majority of the metrics were found to be useful and applicable to each of the SMEs and across the SMEs, respectively. These metrics emphasized measuring industrial sustainability performance related to financial benefits, costs and market competitiveness for the economic sustainability dimension; resources for the environmental sustainability dimension; and customers, employees and the community for the social sustainability dimension.

Apart from the within-case analysis and cross-case analysis, it was not possible to conduct statistical analysis since a small number of SMEs were accessible to collect empirical data.

The findings of the paper have considerable academic, managerial and policy implications and will provide a theoretical basis for future research on measuring and managing industrial sustainability performance. By providing a set of empirically supported metrics based on the triple bottom line approach (i.e. economic, environmental and social metrics), this paper contributes to the existing knowledge in the field of industrial sustainability performance measurement.

This study addresses current research gaps by integrating resilience literature with crisis management theories, focussing on SMEs. Specifically, the authors examine how the entrepreneurial decision-making process, via the interplay of causation and effectuation logic, impacts a firm's ability to respond to unpredictable events. This paper aims to present an investigation that seeks to unearth the potentially complex interplay between causation and effectuation logic in fostering organisational resilience, particularly in the face of unprecedented disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study includes the responses of 80 Italian entrepreneurs operating in the hospitality sector. The paper deployed a joint analysis through a partial least squares structural equation modelling technique (PLS-SEM) and a necessary condition analysis (NCA) to assess how the decision-making logics impact the entrepreneurs' decision when reacting to the pandemic.

The findings show that how entrepreneurs make decisions influence how they react to the crisis. Causation was found as a direct cause of resilience and preparedness, and effectuation was a direct cause of resilience and agility. Moreover, causation indirectly caused resilience through preparedness, and effectuation indirectly caused resilience through agility. Finally, both preparedness and agility are direct causes of resilience.

This research generated insights into why and how some SMEs respond more effectively to uncertainty than others. It provides actionable strategies that business owners and managers can employ to enhance their ability to withstand and recover from crises.

This study's originality and novelty lie in its empirical investigation of the roles of causation and effectuation logic in entrepreneurial decision-making and, consequently, their influence on SME resilience. Focused on the Italian hospitality sector, it provides unique insights into resilience strategies under severe, real-world conditions, contributing to theoretical development and practical applications in crisis management.

This work aims to offer a better understanding of the inevitable challenges related to the digital transformation in the family-owned low-tech SMEs, examining the role assumed by familiness in this specific context. To this end, it examines the main factors that influence the adoption and implementation of digital technologies in the family-owned low-tech SMEs.

The study uses a multiple case studies approach, by investigating the case of family-owned low-tech SMEs operating in the winery sector and located in the South-Italy area.

Based on the empirical evidence, findings show how familiness influence the digital transformation of family-owned SMEs and highlight three main factors – individual, process and organization – relevant for the introduction and use of digital technologies in the productive and innovative activities of these organizations.

This paper fills the research gap existing in the literature on the family business. Firstly, it focuses on the digital transformation phenomenon and underlines how familiness, within family-owned low-tech SMEs, can differently influence the firm's innovation processes primarly based on the use of digital technologies oriented to enable business improvements. Then, it identifies diverse dimensions that can act as “barriers” or “facilitators” for adopting advanced digital technologies within the organizations here examined.

Sustainability is increasingly at the forefront of the public debate in Europe and the world. However, despite this increased interest, research seems to have partially ignored the importance of its social dimension and the issues related to social equity, people care, protection and personal development at all stages of society and, consequently, of business. Accordingly, this paper aims at investigating the “soft” dimensions of sustainability, integrating its mainstream “technical storyline” with a “human/social storyline”.

In this paper a taxonomy of the main key drivers of the soft dimension of sustainability is proposed and tested on a sample of Italian companies. Through interviews with their managers, actions and needs in terms of sustainability soft drivers are identified.

The achieved results demonstrated that the case companies differently integrated the soft dimensions of sustainability within their companies. All the sample companies are aware of the role of social sustainability. According to the proposed taxonomy, the systemic drivers of soft sustainability are the main shared ones.

The paper provides new insights into the essence of the organizational soft dimensions and their centrality in the overall achievement of sustainability for companies. It also offers managerial insights into how to effectively manage these dimensions and policy implications about the need for clearer consideration.